Moded
by Inscriber
Summary: Bart notices something is off with Jaime. Set before War.


**Moded**

**Summary: Bart notices something is off with Jaime.**

* * *

Bart smirked, his thumbs rocketing across the game controller, easily picking up the combos Jaime was missing – his character moved the same speed as Blue's, but considering fighting games basically consisted of jamming down all the buttons in random order as fast as possible, Bart was winning by a good stretch.

Jaime's health bar flashed red warningly, and the teen looked unusually agitated as he glared at Bart while at the same time angrily mashing his buttons as fast as he could, jerking on the controller slightly as he did so.

"Whoa, dude," Bart commented breezily, his character still pounding away at Jaime's, "Calm down, it's just a game."

Jaime didn't look away from the game, instead grinding his teeth together as he spat, "Well quit cheating then, _ese_."

Taken by surprise by the venom in his friend's words, Bart raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jaime through the corner of his eye before smirking, "I'm using what I have at my disposal to my advantage." Bart grinned, making direct eye contact with Jaime before making a wildly exaggerated, yet dainty, click on the last button.

"**Fatality – victory goes to SpeedKing.**" The television rumbled loudly.

Jaime threw down his controller tensely, his eyebrows knitted together, "_Mierda!" _he said rather loudly. Bart wasn't familiar with Spanish, but he was fairly certain from the tone of voice that 'mierda' wasn't exactly a nice word.

"You okay, dude?" Bart asked, setting down his controller before smiling, "Want to grab something to eat to make you feel better? Beast Boy didn't find my stash of junk food yet." The speedster patted his stomach just as it rumbled, as though scripted.

"Rematch." Jaime dead-panned, reclaiming his controller, "I want a rematch."

"Food. I want food." Bart mimicked in the same serious manner, his eyebrows together as he copied Jaime's tense pose before letting out a laugh and shrugging his shoulders, "Seriously, lighten up. You've been moded since Green Beetle got you _cured_. I thought you'd be happy," Bart watched for Jaime's reaction as he added, "How is Mr. Scarab anyway?"

Bart was slightly suspicious of Jaime – he'd talked to the four Meta kids from Star, and they'd reported Blue Beetle being reckless, malicious, savage, and just plain angry…that didn't sound like Jaime. In fact, nothing Jaime had done lately had been in character.

From the short time Bart had known him, Jaime seemed to be the kind of kid who could be easily classified as a goody-goody. He had a shining report card and a 4.0 GPA, he'd been involved in a number of clubs before he'd attained the Scarab, and he was a kid who actually abided by the limited curfew his mother had set in place. Jaime loved his mom, and Bart had noticed he rarely did anything to worry her that wasn't absolutely necessary. Heck, he texted her on missions that didn't require radio silence. Not only that, but Jaime _hated_ being late and was practically OCD about being punctual, organized, and prepared.

Lately though, Bart had noticed that Jaime was hardly at his house anymore to hang out, and when they did get a chance to just chill it was super easy to tick Jaime off. He'd talked to Miss Reyes about it, and she'd admitted his grades were slipping, he was always out, and he'd been coming home later and later. She'd added that he didn't really chat with her anymore, or text her where he was. She'd asked that if, because she knew him and Bart were good friends, he'd look after him and make sure Jaime hadn't fallen in with the wrong crowd.

"_If only she knew just how bad of a crowd…" _Bart thought to himself as he watched Jaime's angry face melt away.

"He's silent as the grave, hermano! Green Beetle fixed me up. Not even the Reach can touch me now!" Jaime grinned widely.

"Uh-huh." The speedster replied unimpressed, suspicious of the sudden mood-swing…and the creepy smile that seemed a little _too_ sincere, like Jaime was trying to sell him something, "So how was your first mission without it, anyways? Didn't it give you battle advice or something?"

Jaime shrugged, looking almost natural, "Not good advice. The Scarab always wanted to use more force than I did. More of a 'shoot now, questions later' kind of a guy. Not really my style."

Bart eyed his friend carefully, "Is that so? I heard you were pretty rough with the Volcano-Robot guy, almost excessive."

Something darkened behind Jaime's eyes, "Said who?"

"The runaway guys from Star," Bart replied, "All of them."

Jaime rolled his eyes, "What do they know? It's not like they fight like we do. They probably think_ any_ violence would be _excessive_ or whatever. Plus, I thought they ran off."

Bart crossed his arms, "While you were getting some camera time, yeah, they did. Lex found them and they're sticking with him – the same guy who's backing the Reach. So, thanks to you, Lex got them to issue some statements about your big fight and how _your_ destructive decisions almost cost seven lives _and_ a building. It's all over the web." He finished, his frustration coming out in his words.

"Whatever, I did what I had to." Jaime shot back, anger edging his voice.

"Well, now the League is under even more fire because the media is saying they can't control their own sidekicks. So while you got at least semi-okay publicity with some mixed reviews, the League and the Team have even less credibility than after the Reach revealed the Watchtower."

Jaime tilted his head and a dark tint came over his expression, "Listen, _ese_, I don't know what you're trying to say, but I did my job. Nightwing told me to stop the robot, and I did. Frankly, I don't care if you don't like the way I did it, because _you_ were busy somewhere else. And the whole League/Media trust issue isn't _my_ fault, so don't pin it to me. If they told people about things, like a giant satellite space station orbiting the planet, then we wouldn't be in this mess! So, how about you _think_ before opening your big mouth? Then it might be good for something besides shoving food into."

Bart felt his face falter at before he managed to compose himself again, surprised the comment actually managed to offend him, "…Dude."

"No, I'm gone." Jaime spat, grabbing his jacket off the coach and storming out of the room.

Just before the speedster had a chance to follow after him, he heard Jaime mutter, "Meatbag" under his breath, and that stopped him dead in his tracks – he knew that word, and it didn't belong in his friend's mouth. Yet, it sounded at home as it slid easily from his mouth…too familiar…

Bart sighed, sinking back into the coach and rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes – he could feel the future approaching all too fast, could see the pieces falling so readily into place. Yet, he didn't have enough proof to rat out Jaime. Even if he _did,_ what then? Put Jaime on lockdown? He didn't want his friend to rot in a cell without hope, and he most definitely didn't want to see Miss Martian screw up Jaime's head.

Green Beetle had done something to Jaime. And if he had, then they were all about to feel the mode.


End file.
